[Peace-discuss] this is flat "nuts"

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

Pentagon to Train Iraqi Opposition
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Filed at 4:28 p.m. ET


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon will train thousands of opponents of Iraqi 
President Saddam Hussein to help in a possible invasion, under an order 
signed by President Bush, U.S. officials said Saturday.

Former Iraqi military officials are among more than 1,000 men the Defense 
Department already has vetted for training in combat and other skills, said 
the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Pentagon also is looking at the names of more possible recruits, all 
recommended by the Iraqi National Congress, a London-based group of exiled 
opponents to the government that Bush wants to overthrow.

The first phase of training could begin next month under a presidential 
directive Bush signed this month allowing the Pentagon to use $92 million for 
the program, the officials said.

White House and Pentagon spokesmen declined comment.

Bush says he has not definitely decided to use military force to achieve his 
goal of ``regime change'' in Iraq. But the approval of money for opposition 
military training intensifies preparation for a possible invasion.

Money for the training was appropriated in the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act that 
authorized $97 million to arm and equip an Iraqi opposition force. Only about 
$5 million has been spent, reflecting administration wariness about the 
effectiveness of the INC, an umbrella opposition organization.

The White House and the Pentagon have recently shown far more interest in 
dealing with the group amid preparations for military action to oust Saddam, 
who is believed to be developing weapons of mass destruction and, it is 
feared, could share them with terrorists.

The Defense Department has been culling recruit lists from the INC and 
planning how much training they would get, who would do it, where, and other 
details.

The Washington Post, which reported Saturday that the directive had been 
signed, said officials have ruled out training in the Middle East.

Defense and State department officials are to brief Congress this week on 
plans to instruct the Iraqis in basic combat as well as specialized skills to 
serve as scouts and interpreters with U.S. ground troops as well as 
battlefield advisers. Some also may be trained as guards for a prisoner of 
war camp, officials said.

During the Clinton administration, some 140 Iraqis received limited training 
at military schools in Texas, Rhode Island and elsewhere.

Meanwhile top Iraqi Kurdish military commander Hamid Efendi said Saturday his 
forces would try to capture nearby oil-rich areas if the United States 
strikes at Saddam regime.

The Kurdish goal of extending their authority to the prized oil fields around 
the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul -- now outside the Western-protected 
Kurdish enclave -- carries military and political risks that could trouble 
Pentagon planners.

Iraqi Kurdish fighters could face direct combat with the more powerful Iraqi 
forces and open a new front that may divert attention from the goal of 
toppling Saddam. It would also enrage neighboring Turkey, which controls 
crucial trade routes for the landlocked Iraqi Kurds.

The Pentagon has been protecting the Kurdish minority for a decade with the 
no-fly zone in the north that restricts Iraqi forces from overflights. 
Another zone in the south protects Shiite Muslims. Revolts by both groups 
after the 1991 Persian Gulf War were put down by Saddam.